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diff --git a/tools/perf/Documentation/perf-trace-perl.txt b/tools/perf/Documentation/perf-trace-perl.txt new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..c5f55f439091 --- /dev/null +++ b/tools/perf/Documentation/perf-trace-perl.txt @@ -0,0 +1,219 @@ +perf-trace-perl(1) +================== + +NAME +---- +perf-trace-perl - Process trace data with a Perl script + +SYNOPSIS +-------- +[verse] +'perf trace' [-s [lang]:script[.ext] ] + +DESCRIPTION +----------- + +This perf trace option is used to process perf trace data using perf's +built-in Perl interpreter. It reads and processes the input file and +displays the results of the trace analysis implemented in the given +Perl script, if any. + +STARTER SCRIPTS +--------------- + +You can avoid reading the rest of this document by running 'perf trace +-g perl' in the same directory as an existing perf.data trace file. +That will generate a starter script containing a handler for each of +the event types in the trace file; it simply prints every available +field for each event in the trace file. + +You can also look at the existing scripts in +~/libexec/perf-core/scripts/perl for typical examples showing how to +do basic things like aggregate event data, print results, etc. Also, +the check-perf-trace.pl script, while not interesting for its results, +attempts to exercise all of the main scripting features. + +EVENT HANDLERS +-------------- + +When perf trace is invoked using a trace script, a user-defined +'handler function' is called for each event in the trace. If there's +no handler function defined for a given event type, the event is +ignored (or passed to a 'trace_handled' function, see below) and the +next event is processed. + +Most of the event's field values are passed as arguments to the +handler function; some of the less common ones aren't - those are +available as calls back into the perf executable (see below). + +As an example, the following perf record command can be used to record +all sched_wakeup events in the system: + + # perf record -c 1 -f -a -M -R -e sched:sched_wakeup + +Traces meant to be processed using a script should be recorded with +the above options: -c 1 says to sample every event, -a to enable +system-wide collection, -M to multiplex the output, and -R to collect +raw samples. + +The format file for the sched_wakep event defines the following fields +(see /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/events/sched/sched_wakeup/format): + +---- + format: + field:unsigned short common_type; + field:unsigned char common_flags; + field:unsigned char common_preempt_count; + field:int common_pid; + field:int common_lock_depth; + + field:char comm[TASK_COMM_LEN]; + field:pid_t pid; + field:int prio; + field:int success; + field:int target_cpu; +---- + +The handler function for this event would be defined as: + +---- +sub sched::sched_wakeup +{ + my ($event_name, $context, $common_cpu, $common_secs, + $common_nsecs, $common_pid, $common_comm, + $comm, $pid, $prio, $success, $target_cpu) = @_; +} +---- + +The handler function takes the form subsystem::event_name. + +The $common_* arguments in the handler's argument list are the set of +arguments passed to all event handlers; some of the fields correspond +to the common_* fields in the format file, but some are synthesized, +and some of the common_* fields aren't common enough to to be passed +to every event as arguments but are available as library functions. + +Here's a brief description of each of the invariant event args: + + $event_name the name of the event as text + $context an opaque 'cookie' used in calls back into perf + $common_cpu the cpu the event occurred on + $common_secs the secs portion of the event timestamp + $common_nsecs the nsecs portion of the event timestamp + $common_pid the pid of the current task + $common_comm the name of the current process + +All of the remaining fields in the event's format file have +counterparts as handler function arguments of the same name, as can be +seen in the example above. + +The above provides the basics needed to directly access every field of +every event in a trace, which covers 90% of what you need to know to +write a useful trace script. The sections below cover the rest. + +SCRIPT LAYOUT +------------- + +Every perf trace Perl script should start by setting up a Perl module +search path and 'use'ing a few support modules (see module +descriptions below): + +---- + use lib "$ENV{'PERF_EXEC_PATH'}/scripts/perl/Perf-Trace-Util/lib"; + use lib "./Perf-Trace-Util/lib"; + use Perf::Trace::Core; + use Perf::Trace::Context; + use Perf::Trace::Util; +---- + +The rest of the script can contain handler functions and support +functions in any order. + +Aside from the event handler functions discussed above, every script +can implement a set of optional functions: + +*trace_begin*, if defined, is called before any event is processed and +gives scripts a chance to do setup tasks: + +---- + sub trace_begin + { + } +---- + +*trace_end*, if defined, is called after all events have been + processed and gives scripts a chance to do end-of-script tasks, such + as display results: + +---- +sub trace_end +{ +} +---- + +*trace_unhandled*, if defined, is called after for any event that + doesn't have a handler explicitly defined for it. The standard set + of common arguments are passed into it: + +---- +sub trace_unhandled +{ + my ($event_name, $context, $common_cpu, $common_secs, + $common_nsecs, $common_pid, $common_comm) = @_; +} +---- + +The remaining sections provide descriptions of each of the available +built-in perf trace Perl modules and their associated functions. + +AVAILABLE MODULES AND FUNCTIONS +------------------------------- + +The following sections describe the functions and variables available +via the various Perf::Trace::* Perl modules. To use the functions and +variables from the given module, add the corresponding 'use +Perf::Trace::XXX' line to your perf trace script. + +Perf::Trace::Core Module +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + +These functions provide some essential functions to user scripts. + +The *flag_str* and *symbol_str* functions provide human-readable +strings for flag and symbolic fields. These correspond to the strings +and values parsed from the 'print fmt' fields of the event format +files: + + flag_str($event_name, $field_name, $field_value) - returns the string represention corresponding to $field_value for the flag field $field_name of event $event_name + symbol_str($event_name, $field_name, $field_value) - returns the string represention corresponding to $field_value for the symbolic field $field_name of event $event_name + +Perf::Trace::Context Module +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + +Some of the 'common' fields in the event format file aren't all that +common, but need to be made accessible to user scripts nonetheless. + +Perf::Trace::Context defines a set of functions that can be used to +access this data in the context of the current event. Each of these +functions expects a $context variable, which is the same as the +$context variable passed into every event handler as the second +argument. + + common_pc($context) - returns common_preempt count for the current event + common_flags($context) - returns common_flags for the current event + common_lock_depth($context) - returns common_lock_depth for the current event + +Perf::Trace::Util Module +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + +Various utility functions for use with perf trace: + + nsecs($secs, $nsecs) - returns total nsecs given secs/nsecs pair + nsecs_secs($nsecs) - returns whole secs portion given nsecs + nsecs_nsecs($nsecs) - returns nsecs remainder given nsecs + nsecs_str($nsecs) - returns printable string in the form secs.nsecs + avg($total, $n) - returns average given a sum and a total number of values + +SEE ALSO +-------- +linkperf:perf-trace[1] |